Weekly Update: Sporting KC

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution (8-8-6, 30 pts.) heads to Kansas City this weekend to face Sporting KC on Saturday night at Sporting Park. Kick-off is set for 8:30 p.m. ET. Comcast SportsNet will televise the game while 98.5 the Sports Hub will have the game on the radio.

Saturday’s match is the second and final meeting this season between the two clubs. Earlier this year on March 23, the teams played to a 0-0 draw at Gillette Stadium. The Revs are still searching for their first-ever win at Sporting Park since its opening in 2011. In three games at the stadium, the Revs are 0-1-2.

THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES

Sporting Kansas City up next for Revs
The Revs travel to Sporting Park this week to take on Sporting KC in the final regular-season meeting between the teams … the two clubs played to a 0-0 draw at Gillette Stadium on March 23 in the Revs’ home opener … New England is winless in three matches (0-1-2) at Sporting Park since its opening in 2011 … the Revs have been held scoreless by SKC in each of their last four meetings, with the last New England goal in the series coming on July 30, 2011, in a 1-1 draw at Sporting Park.

Down the stretch they come
The Revs have 12 regular-season games remaining, all against Eastern Conference opponents … the Revs play Chicago, Montreal and Columbus twice and have single games remaining with Sporting Kansas City, Philadelphia, Toronto, Houston, D.C. United and New York … the nine remaining opponents have a combined winning percentage of .479.

Defense still reigns supreme
Once again, entering Week 24 of the MLS season, the Revs’ defense still ranks as the league’s best … through 22 games, the Revs have allowed a league-fewest 20 goals and own the league’s best goals against average (0.91) … Revs goalkeepers (Bobby Shuttleworth – 20 games played, Matt Reis – 2 games played) have also recorded a league-high 11 shutouts and are tied for third in save percentage (73.6) … last Sunday’s loss against Toronto also marked the 17th game – in 22 total – that the Revs have allowed one goal or fewer.

Solid away from home
The Revs head to Kansas City this weekend tied for the second-best road record in MLS with a 4-4-3 (.500) road mark … Sporting KC (5-3-3, .591) is the only team in MLS with a better road record … the Revs have earned road wins at Chicago, Houston, Columbus and D.C., and have earned single points in draws at Seattle, Portland and Chivas USA … including Saturday’s tilt with Sporting KC, the Revs play six – exactly half – of their remaining 12 games on the road.

Tierney re-signs with the Revs
The Revs re-signed Chris Tierney on Monday …. a natural left midfielder, the Wellesley, Mass., product has primarily played left back the last two seasons … now in his sixth MLS season, he is the team’s second-longest tenured player … Tierney, 27, ranks in the club’s top 10 in several career categories: appearances (eighth, 120), starts (10th, 109) and minutes (10th, 9,559). He also ranks eighth in career assists (20), third in game-winning assists (9), fifth in assists per game (0.17), fifth in assists per 90 minutes (0.19) and fourth in corner kicks (193).

Getting off on right foot a must
The Revs have allowed the first goal in a game seven times this season, most recently against Toronto on Sunday … the Revs are 1-5-1 in one those meetings … the lone victory after surrendering the first goal came at D.C. on July 27, in the team’s 2-1 win at RFK Stadium … the Revs are 7-3-1 when scoring the first goal.

Eastern Conference playoff picture
The top five teams currently in a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference are all separated by just five points … New York currently holds the top spot with 38 pts. (11-7-5), while Houston holds down the fifth and final spot with 33 pts. (9-6-6) … the Revs sit just outside the playoff picture with 30 pts (8-8-6), while the Chicago Fire are just five points out with 28 pts (8-9-4) in the seventh position.

WATCH: Diego Fagundez on MLS 36
On Saturday, “MLS 36” unveiled its latest episode as 18-year old Diego Fagundez was featured … Fagundez leads the Revs in scoring with seven goals while adding four assists this season … watch the full episode HERE.

WATCH: MLS Insider and the MLS Academy Structure
The Revolution Academy was featured on the latest episode of “MLS Insider” … the show looked at the importance of the academy system and how the Revs have produced two quality first-team players in Diego Fagundez and Scott Caldwell, as well as bringing in Juan Agudelo, a product of the New York Red Bulls Academy … watch the full episode HERE.

Play, Eat, Score! With Revs, Papa Gino’s
All season, the Revolution and Papa Gino's will be giving away a prize package to New England soccer teams … the prize packages include: an appearance by a Revolution player at the team’s soccer practice, 50 Revolution tickets, 20 drawstring bags, 20 water bottles, 10 large Papa Gino’s pizzas and 20 Papa Gino’s small cheese pizza coupons … for a chance to win, simply explain WHY your team should have a Revolution player deliver the prize package to a practice … eight (8) winners will be selected throughout the season to win … enter HERE.

Sovereign | Santander’s “Goals for Charity” program in full swing
Sovereign | Santander, the official bank of the New England Revolution, has launched the “Goals for Charity” campaign to coincide with the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2013 and by the Revolution … in the program, Sovereign | Santander will contribute $500 for every goal scored during the Gold Cup 2013 and Revolution games between now and October 17 (a total up to $50,000) to three Boston non-profit organizations: The Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, Cradles to Crayons and Camp Harborview.

Kansas City leads the all-time, regular-season series between the two teams, 22-13-11

Saturday’s match will be the second of two games between the teams this season … the team’s played to a 0-0 draw at Gillette Stadium on March 23 in the Revs’ home opener

New England is 6-11-5 all-time in away games at Kansas City on the road, including a 0-1-2 mark Sporting Park … the two teams played to 0-0 draw on July 30, 2011, the teams’ last meeting at Sporting Park

Kansas City won the three-game series last year, going 2-0-1 against the Revs, including a 1-0 win at Gillette Stadium on Aug. 4 … the Revs were held scoreless last year in all three meetings, losing 3-0 on March 17, drawing 0-0 on July 21, before the 1-0 loss at home on Aug. 4

The Revs enter Saturday’s game having been held scoreless in their last four meetings against KC … the team is riding a 411-minute scoreless streak that stretches back to the team’s last goal against Kansas City: a 38th-minute tally by Rajko Lekic on July 30, 2011

31 matches between the clubs have been determined by one goal or fewer … 12 games have been decided by a two-goal spread, while just two matches – including the 3-0 KC victory last March – have been decided by three or more goals

The teams have also met twice outside MLS regular-season competition: once in SuperLiga (a 1-1 draw in 2009), and once in the U.S. Open Cup (a 5-0 KC win on May 25, 2011)

Player Notes against Kansas City

The Revs’ active leading scorer against Kansas City is Chad Barrett, who has four career goals against Sporting … all four of his goals came in 2006 and 2007, two each year while he was with Chicago

Juan Toja has also previously scored against KC, a 2007 goal while he was with FC Dallas

Clyde Simms has recorded two career assists in 19 career appearances against KC … Simms recorded single assists in 2006 and 2007 while a member of D.C. United

Chris Tierney has one assist against Kansas City, helping set up Shalrie Joseph’s game-winning strike on Oct. 16, 2010

In 33 appearances (32 starts) against KC, Matt Reis is 11-11-10 with a 1.30 goals against average and eight shutouts

Reis set his single-game high of 11 saves against KC in a 0-0 draw on July 11, 2009, at Gillette Stadium

Reis also recorded an assist – his first since 2007 – on the Revs’ only goal in a 1-1 draw on July 30, 2011, at Sporting Park

The Rhinos fell to the Dayton Dutch Lions, 3-1, on August 2 at home at Sahlen’s Stadium

On the season, Rochester is 4-9-10 and is 12th in the 13-team USL PRO … the Rhinos have three games remaining in their season: Aug. 9 vs. Pittsburg, Aug. 16 at Phoenix and Aug. 17 at Los Angeles

The Revs currently have four players on loan to the Rochester Rhinos as part of the teams’ affiliation agreement: defender Bilal Duckett, midfielder Gabe Latigue, forward Matt Horth and defender Tyler Polak.

Duckett leads all Revs players with one goal and 1146 minutes played in 16 games … Polak has made 15 appearances and has played 919 minutes … Horth is the only other player to record a goal and has played 804 minutes in 15 games

Latigue suffered a knee injury in training on July 22, and has returned to Foxborough for treatment … before the injury, Latigue played 871 minutes in 16 games with two assists.